Rocking-Horse Winner

Paul's mother foolishly buys things that the family does not need instead of paying her existing debts. Also, instead of quieting the voices, it simply drives them mad, and they scream, "There must be more money! Oh-h-h, there must be more money-. This frightens Paul, and the cycle of winning ends. He no longer knows any of the winners, and so, as with a gambling addiction, he becomes overwrought and unable to sleep for worry about his failure. When his mother suggests that he is not well and that perhaps he should go to the seaside for a vacation, he begs her not to send him and says, "I'll do whatever you like, mother, so long as you don't send me away till after the Derby."". As is with gambling addicts, he was hoping that with the Derby he would have another chance to turn his luck around. He tells his mother not to worry, and reiterates this several times trying to convince her that he is fine. In Pathological Gambling: Conceptual, Diagnostic and Treatment Issues, it is stated that all gambling addicts believe that eventually their luck will return, and we see this as he is reassuring his mother. Soon we see the reason that Paul feels that his luck will soon return, his precious rocking horse. He feels that this is his secret weapon, and that only with it will luck come riding back to him. As "The Derby was drawing near, and the boy grew more and more tense. He hardly heard what was spoken to him, he was frail, and his eyes were really uncanny-. All of these symptoms that Paul displays are classic signs of what is called a "gambling depression,"" when the luck turns bad and the gambler grows more and more concerned about getting it back . Many times, the luck never comes back to a gambling addict, and often that is the cause of his or her death. In this case, it is just the opposite. Paul's luck does return, unfortunately, with its return also comes Paul's death. One evening, after a party, Paul's mother returns to find her son "in his green pyjamas, madly surging on the rocking-horse- frantically seeking for the winner of the Derby.